Overhaul Completed

My brother and I bought this machine close to 30 years ago. We ran it hard for the first 10 and then life happened and it sat for 20 years. This year I decided it was time to resurrect the Big Orange. Bearings, seals, chains, new wiring and battery, new tires, new inch mount and some minor motor maintenance and I had it up and running... once around the pasture and through the dugout.....good to go :) What could go wrong...??

My buddy needed a new roof on one of his trapping cabins so we loaded the gear and roofing materials, took one of his grandsons and a quad for backup and away we went. 35kms back in the bush through mostly swamp and beaver ponds.....no guts no glory...:D Not the biggest load old Orange has ever had but for sure the heaviest.

Got er stuck a few times, all Operator error, but with a little tug on the front... away she went again :) Only issue we had was the charging system was not working and we drained the battery on the way out. But we had a charge pack with us and it saved our bacon. Thank you I-Start !

A very successful trip, new roof in place, no major breakdowns and good weather. Only thing that would have made it better is if we had found a moose along the way. New regulator shipped out this am and looking at an alternator upgrade and maybe a carry rack in the future.

I had forgotten how much fun the Orange was !!:D

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Excellent! Welcome back, Big Orange.

Nice job ,loved the pics, but thats no way to park a 4 wheeler. How did you like them duro tires.

What a cool story. I'm sure it feels good to be back in the seat again. :cool:

I think it would be cool to see some pictures from 30 years ago like a "then and now" juxtaposition. If you took any... And if you can find them.

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Originally Posted by Robphibious

I think it would be cool to see some pictures from 30 years ago like a "then and now" juxtaposition. If you took any... And if you can find them.

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As a matter of fact....I did find a few. If you look at my album "Early Days" you'll see this machine and the 6 wheeler that came before it. The reason its called Big Orange is when my kids were small and it was parked they always called it the Big Orange...so Big Orange it is ! And even though they are grown up they were surprised to see that the Orange really does run :)
The Duro's seem pretty good, on hard ground they boogie, in mud they tend to be directional, in swamp grass they dig and they don’t swim too bad. Not as good as I remember to Runamucks swimming but still pretty good. They are 21x12x8 so a bit bigger than the originals, I spent some time matching heights when I serviced it after we got back so next trip we'll see how they work. Average pressure is 4.5 to 5.0 lbs.

Also noticed to front tires were facing backwards for water probably because the front of a argo sits down due to engine in front and the rears were turned for mud. The picks look like you were cruising good thru the swamps. I will check your album out.

Good for you,HTB8!